Revelation 9
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Good Evening, tonight we continue with our study of the book of Revelation and we continue with God pouring out His wrath with these trumpet judgments. We saw the first 4 trumpet judgments in and in we start out with the sounding of the 5th trumpet.
Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.
Revelation 9:
So we see that the star is referred to hear as a him here
Revelation 9:2
And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
Now Hell is often referred to as the bottmless pit, Hell is also referred to as a furnace of fire. It says that the angel that has the key to the bottomless pit he opens the bottmles pi, and smoke arises from the bottomless pit and the sun and air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Revelation 9:
So these locusts instead of eating up all the greenery as locusts often do in the Bible.. and locusts is never a postive thing in the Bible. Even in the US there have been plagues of locusts that have happened in the past, where locusts would come in and they would eat up all the plants, they would eat up all the crops and it was devastating to people because they plant the crops and they look forward to a harvest and then the locusts come in.
The locust is a migrating grasshopper, that devours grass. These grasshoppers would come in and eat all of the plant life and just leave nothing behind and it was devastating to farmers and people who live in that area. In the Bible there are similar things where locust come in and eat the greenery.
But these locusts that come out of Hell or the bottomless pit are different they are not going to touch any green thing. They are only there to hurt the men that have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Referring to to the fact that the 144,000 recieved that seal in their foreheads which caused them to be immune from that portion of God’s wrath.
So everyone left except for the ones sealed is being tormented by these horrible locusts whose sole purpose is to do nothing but to hurt human beings.
And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
Now one thing I find interesting is that over and over again you find that the Bible makes reference to humanns being like grass.
because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,
Over and over again the Bible refers to humans being like grass and here the grass eating insects are not eating literal grass but instead they are biting people whom God sees as grass.
It says they strike like scorpions.
When I was a young boy and we lived in Carrabelle Florida I remember something crazy that happened in our beach house. I went upstairs because we wanted to play football in the yard, we didnt have a ball so my grandad told me that upstairs there was a football under the dresser.
I reached up under that dresser and all of a sudden there was a burning pain like I had never experienced before. When I pulled my hand out there was a baby scorpion under the dresser that stung me. Now that thing was tiny and we have no idea how he ended up in the house but let me tell you it hurt and hurt bad for a few days before the pain began to subside.
Now here we see these locust from Hell tormenting men on the Earth for 5 months. Now you say well how bad is this going to be? How painful?
Well look what it says in verse 6
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
The Bible says that these people will be in so much pain and agony and burning from these scorpion like wounds that they will wish they were dead.
The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
Why would they be looking like horses ready for battle. Well throughout history horses have always worn some type of armor. Some type of shielding for their bodies. Let’s keep reading and we will get into more of that.
Now it doesnt say they will be wearing crowns but that their heads will be like crowns of gold, so this is saying that their heads will be pointy, their faces were like the faces of men. So they do not have the faces of men but their faces are SIMILAR TO the faces of men, and it says they have hair like women, or long hair.
They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.
So imagine the terrifying sight of a swarm of these locusts toward you, these locusts are beating their wings and it sounds like horses running into battle. These swarms will be coming so quickly and so concentrated that they will sound like horses coming into battle.
It says that they have brestplates like breastplates of iron, well think about this bugs have an exoskeloton right? Which can be referred to as armor. Certain bugs have such a strong exoskeleton that they are diffcult to crush, and probably all of us have had that bug that just would not die. Your just stomping on it and it keeps moving.
Well these locusts you wont be able to step on them and kill them I dont beleive because this exoskeloton which is like iron is not going to be stomped on by your foot. They are not going to able to be killed they are just gonna keep on coming.
They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.
150 days of this torment and people will wish they were dead to have some relief from the pain.
And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
Now I want to spend some time on this verse because so many people have mistakenly been taught that apollyon is the devil. Apollyon is NOT Satan.
Let me give you several reasons why this can NOT be satan:
HE has a completely different name
Now all throughout the book of Revelation we see that John calls the devil by name. When he says and the dragon was cast out which is the devil or Satan. The serpent which is Satan which is the dragon. God is very clear over and over again in the book of Revelation when he is talking about the devil and he is consistently refrred to as the serpent the dragon, the devil, lucifer. But never do we see him called Abaddon or Apollyon.
2. This is the wrong timing.
Satan does not fall from Heaven at the sounding of the 5th trumpet because if you remember the Bible is clear in
“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
Daniel 12:1
So basically Michael cast the dragon out of Heaven which we read about in that takes place before the tribulation takes place, so Satan is cast out of Heaven before the tribulation not before the 5th trumpet there is nothing in the Bible that would indicate this timing for Satans fall for Heaven. So first of all Satan and Abaddon have different names, second of all it is the wrong timing.
3. we see this same angel from the bottomless pit. Remember it says in
mi
And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
So according to this verse Abaddon is the angel of the bottomless pit he is also the King over the locusts from Hell, and he also has the key of the bottomless pit.
Now go to , but before we read didn’t Jesus say in that He had the keys of Hell?
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Revelation 1:
So wouldn’t it make sense that if Jesus has the key of Hell or the bottomless pit, that he would give it to His angel to open and that He wouldnt turn it over to Satan?
God is not going to turn something that He has the keys to over to Satan, He can turn it over to one of His servants, or one of His angels… and Abaddon is one of His servants. He is an angel from Heaven that has the key to the bottomless pit, now let me prove it to you.
If Appolyon is Satan as these false teachers like to throw around then how does it makes sense in the angel of the bottomless pit casts Satan into Hell, i mean is this Satan casting Himself into Hell? That makes no sense does it?
Look at
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
Revelation 20:1
So who is the one who has the power to bind Satan up and lock him away for a thousand years? Thats Abaddon that’s the angel of the bottomless pit, and let me say this He is greater in power and might than Satan is is He not? Because He is able to bind satan. he is able to throw Satan into the bottomless pit.
he casts out satan hey can Satan outcast Satan? No
Therefore the angel of the bottomless pit is not satan,
different names
totally the wrong time frame
Appolyon is the one who binds Satan therefore he cannot be Satan
Satan is not a king of the bottomless pit
He does not rule in Hell, you know there is a false doctrine out there among Satanist who say, better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven...
No let me tell you something , satan worshippers and Satan himself will not rule in Hell you know what they’ll do? They will be tormented in Hell along with everyone else. Hell is the place where the devil will suffer and be tormented for all eternity.
The devil will not rule in Hell, the Bible teaches that the devil will be tormented in Hell, you know who rules in Hell? God does.
God is the creator of Hell and he didnt create Hell for people, people were not destined for Hell, but when people reject Christ they reject Gods offering to go to the place created for them which is Heaven.
Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you, the only place God is preparing a place for people is in Heaven the only reason why people end up in Hell is because they reject the gospel of Jesus CHrist.
Abaddon who also goes by the name Appolyon has the key to the bottomless pit and he is going to lock Satan up. So this idea that Satan is a king over the bottmless pit or ruling over Hell is a false doctrine which exalts Satan and gives him some sort of authority in Hell. But Satan has no authority anywhere he is God’s devil and he does only what God allows him to do.
At this point in he hasn’t even been to Hell, right now he is roaming about on this Earth like a roaring lion seeking someone he may devour. But let’s go a little deeper now. Let’s look at the word Abaddon and Appolyon just to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt just to show you who he really is.
Did you know Abbaddon is used in the OT? How about Appolyon?
Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
Job 26
the word destruction there is the word abaddon in this verse, so that tells us that the word Abaddon means destruction and what is it associated with? HELL
Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my increase.
Job 31
So what has Abaddon been associated with so far?
Hell, death, fire
Getting it?
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
So look just as a grave is a place where a dead body is kept, destruction is a place where dead souls are kept. Hell, death, fire, the grave.
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
Hell and Destruction are never full;
So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Proverbs
So wouldn’t it make perfect sense then that the name of the angel of the bottomless pit when the word Abaddon is always associated with Hell death , and fire.
you say ok what about the word Appolyon
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Matthew 7:13
Now whats that verse talking about? People going into Hell right? He says many people the majority, the broad way leads to Hell. It leads to destruction. When the Bible says the broad way leads to destruction you should know He is talking about Hell.
What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
Romans 9:27
This idea of the word Appolyon used here is the idea of the wrath of God which obviously Hell is the place of God’s wrath.
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
1 Peter 2:
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
So is there any doubt in our minds when we look up all the Hebrew mentions of abaddon all the greek mentions of Apollyon you set them side by side that the word means destruction and it is always associated with death and Hell.
Not to mention Abaddon/Appolyon is doing God’s will, let me ask you a question isnt it Gods will that the people who are left on the Earth in are facing God’s wrath and didnt god give the command for this angel to strike these people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads didn’t God ask for this to be done?
God is sending the locust to torment wicked people, so He is using His angel appolyon to do it!
Let’s look at something else about these locusts from Hell, i dont want you to forget that smoke came out of the bottomless pit and darkened the sky and the air and the sun. So basically while these locusts come out of the bottomless pit the world is in darknes, now let me ask you something: if you had to deal with these would you rather do it in the light or in the dark?
Man alive can you imagine these things coming after you in the dark.
So these people are going to be tormented by these terrible locusts form Hell, their going to be dealing with it it the dark.
Now one thing to remember as we look at there are very specific things that happened to them back then and those things already happened but there is also another aspect of that which ties in with end time events that deal with the end of the world spoken of in the NT
For example
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand:
Basically when you look up the phrase the day of the Lord in the OT He is often referring to a near term judgment. thats about to happen, but he is foreshadoing the ultimate day of the Lord.
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
Joel 2:
So here in god is prophesying destruction upon the children of Israel here, and He is saying this judgement will come in the form of an invading army. That already happened back then but it also foreshadows end time events.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like swift steeds, so they run.
Now remember here in these locusts from Hell had an appearance like horses arrayed unto battle?
With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.
Again the noise of chariots the same is mentioned in so shall they leap, now look do grasshoppers or locusts leap?
Of course they do, they make these great leaping movement, now look it says on the tops of the mountains shall they leaplike the noise of a flaming that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.
Before them the people writhe in pain;
All faces are drained of color.
Now look the people are in pain this army is like unto horses and has a sound like the sound of chariots identical to what we find in
They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ranks.
They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not cut down.
When this particular army falls on the sword they cant be wounded, remember that exoskeleton that protects these locusts. He says people are going to be in pain and it says that the people will climb the walls. it says they sha;; leap
They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter at the windows like a thief.
Now imagine these things these things are running like men of war tey are climbing the walls they are running into the windows, i mean can you imagine?
You run inside you close all the windows and the doors and these things are coming and through every crevice, they are coming in like a thief its gonna be dark they are going to be crawling all over you, its going to be dark, of course this is the scene for the ones who reject Jesus Christ.
This is horrible
The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
isnt it interesting how god’s word just reaffirms itself?
One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
Revelation 9:12
1 woe down 2 to go, thats a bad outlook for the wicked is it not?
Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
Revelation 9:13-
So when the 6th angel sounds the trumpet the judgment involves 1/3 of mankind being slaughtered thats pretty major, isnt it? When that trumpet sounds these 4 angels are going to be loosed from the great river Euphrates and their job is to slaughter 1/3 of mankind. who are these four angels?
Genesis 2
Well back in the Bible talks about the river Euphrates being in the land of Eden there. If you remember in gen 3 when man is kicked out of the garden of Eden
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
So on the East side of the garden of Eden he puts these 4 angels to guard the tree of life, He doesnt give a number but he says he puts cherubim there. He says they are facing every way to keep the tree of life.
(demonstrate)
arent there 4 compass points?
Now that was before the flood obviously after the flood geography is going to be pretty different because the world wide flood is going to bring about some major changes on this Earth. the Grand Canyon was probably formed at this time, so i believe the location of the tree of life and the where the actual Garden of Eden was is now on the bottom of the Euphrates river.
we see these 4 angels loosed from the bottom of the Euphrates river. They are bound in the river Euphrates I believe these are the same angels that were set in place in when we look at it talks about the river euphrates being dried up at this time. so right now at the bottom of the Euphrates I believe they are still at the bottom of the river there waiting.
Can I know that for sure no but I can tell you the Wrod of God alludes to it.
Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
Revelation 9:16
So these 4 angels are leading an army of 200,000,000,000 and they will slay 1/3 of those who are left.
Revelation 9:17
And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.
So here we have an army of 200 million these horses have breastplates of fire and brimstone the heads are like the heads of lions.
By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
So people are going to be bruned up and die from the smoke it also says
For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 9:20-21
So this army of horsemen it says the horses have breatsplates of fire and brimstone the horses have heads breathing fire and smoke, they have tails like snakes and they do harm.
Now we could just take this at face value and say these are horsemen that are riding on these horses that are not like normal horses, now in the 5th trumpet we saw horrific creatures from Hell, the locusts and I believe these are literal locusts that dwell in Hell, but I sometimes wonder when I am reading about the 6th trumpet judgment if perhaps this is some kind of machine that John is looking at because John is writing in a language of what He is familiar with.
When I read this I cant help but think when I read about these breastplates breathing fire or breathing smoke the tails are like serpent and do harm. I cant help but wonder if someone is looking at something like a tank, or something mechanized force here, that is spewing out fire covered with armor… I dont know but i find myself wondering if that could be true.
Whatever it is its bad its breathing fire and smoke its bad.
People here dont even repent even with all of this going on, and it just goes to show you that when a human heart has turned off their sense of God they simply will not admit their wrong.
You know today we have this warped sense of punishment where we think that we are trying to reform everyone, well I agree with giving everyone a fair chance but some of these heinous crimes that are being committed today by these sickos who hurt the defenseless if you would not stick them in a jail cell but simply give them a punishment equal to their crimes then the crime rate would go down.
The bible teaches Grace but it also teaches capital punishment, God is not trying to reform these people this is punishment for their wickedness because they refused the grace offered to them through Christ.
God is showing up this time and his goal is to take vengence, is this right is God a vengeful God who is showing up to punish?
HERE yes
Vengence is mine saith the Lord I will repay there will come a point where grace will not be found. This is why today is the day of Salvation this is why we must share the good news of Jesus Christ who bore the wrath wore the shame and carried it all the way to Calvary to make a way of escape from this day!
Thank you Lord for the cross
(Let’s pray)